SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Thomas Howard, linebackers coach for the Slippery Rock University football team for the past four seasons, was recently hired as the defensive coordinator at Lincoln University in Missouri.

Rock head coach George Mihalik said a national search will begin shortly to find Howard's successor.

Howard joined The Rock staff prior to the 2005 season after serving as defensive coordinator and defensive backs/linebackers coach at Allen University. He also served one year as assistant athletic director/compliance coordinator and two years as academic adviser/recruiting coordinator at the school, located in Columbia, S.C. 

Prior to starting his coaching career, Howard played four seasons at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He served two seasons as team captain and earned the team Most Improved Player Award as a junior and Defensive Back of the Year award in his senior season. 

Howard graduated cum laude from Morehouse in May 2003 with a bachelor's degree in early childhood development. 

At Lincoln, Howard becomes part of a Blue Tigers program that, like The Rock, is part of the NCAA Division II fraternity. Lincoln currently competes the Great Lakes Football Conference, but has been accepted for membership into the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) at the start of the 2010-11 academic year.

The MIAA, home of last year's national runner-up Northwest Missouri State and perennial national power Pittsburg State, is arguably the top Division II football conference in the nation.